Page 24 of The Serpent Prince

“I’m sure the crown he’s wearing is glamoured. I have no idea how he’s pulling it off or where the true heir is, but I can promise you he isn’t wearing it when he dies. And as I mentioned before, we all know that a person lives and dies as monarch once chosen by the Fabric, and that means he’d be wearing the crown. It’s unmovable until after death, and he couldn’t live without it for more than a few seconds.”

“How does he die again?”

“Someone murders him with a spell in what appears to be a duel.”

“Did you see who did it?”

“I already told you, unless the victim kills themself, that information isn’t available to me in the visions.” If she knew more about her divination magic, maybe she’d be able to cast a spell to fill in those blanks, but she didn’t.

Steepling his hands, Kiran leaned back in his seat, his mind buzzing. Imani could practically hear those brilliant wheels turning. He knew something he wasn’t telling her about this entire situation.

Finally, he broke the silence. “Are you sure you don’t know who is wearing the real crown right now instead? Have you seen their death?”

Imani licked her lips, preparing her words carefully to evade the truth. She gave him a slight shake of her head then added, “Whoever they are, they’re superb at hiding, and probably have help. I bet the crown is glamoured, and glamoured well. It’s possible no one else is seeing the crown on anyone’s head but Tanyl’s. He may be playing this one very close to the chest.”

“Or he has magnificent help on his side,” Kiran said grimly.

A surge of worry shot through her at the thought of someone learning the truth, but she shoved it back down.

“You know something, Imani—tell me.”

Imani dug her proverbial heels in. She needed to choose her next words with care. He could torture her all he wanted, he could keep her wand—she was going to get a new one soon, anyway—but she would keep her knowledge of the real monarch to herself until she could use it against him. Unless he demanded it with the binding, this was one she wouldn’t budge on.

“You said it was going to be me. Who says it’s not me?”

He considered that for a moment and finally said, “Aside from the fact that you’d never be able to glamour the crown from me—in fact, you’re entirely unglamoured right now, besides the echo shield—I never said you would become the Essenheim queen. In fact, I think it was my brother Saevel who said that it was more likely you would over Tanyl. And he was right; it was someone else. And I bet they’re female.”

He didn’t mention her shadows, which were glamouring evidence of her ordeal with Meira. It almost made her giddy how well they hid everything.

Maybe she was more powerful than before.

“Well, I don’t know anything about who has the crown right now,” she lied, trying to get ahead of the question before he asked it. “I just know it’s not Tanyl.” Not a lie.

Kiran narrowed his eyes, his face dripping with suspicion.

Her nerves tingled as she wondered if he sensed her trepidation. Saints, he was good at keeping someone on edge. She had to admit that about him.

CHAPTER 9

It was her second day in the palace, and her favorite time. Kehemol was quiet in the early morning after the drunks had all gone home or passed out in the streets beyond. Not a soul was in sight, nor a sound heard beyond the wailing wind and rain.

Beams of shadows streamed in through the palace windows, hiding the cracks in the marbled floors as Imani’s boots clomped against them with each step. She paused and stared down at the crude map she’d drawn on her hand. “It must be this way,” she muttered to herself and turned left down another winding, dizzying hallway.

She slowed to a stop and raised her palms to the door in front of her. Was this the library?

Testing the doorknob, she found it was locked, like all the others.

Frustrated, she recast her invisibility illusion just in case her emotions loosened it then started off in the opposite direction. The palace wasn’t built in a neat rectangle, like Stralas. However, it was everything Stralas was and more. Extravagant beyond compare, there seemed to be black diamonds and glass everywhere. It was rumored to be spelled by Kiran himself against theft.

While made of cold stone, the palace was anything but drafty. Sumptuous rugs lined the halls and rooms, and servants managed to keep fires going almost constantly.

She wandered farther down the hallway, which followed no obvious pattern. Some corridors were wide and straight, others curved, slanted, paved in brick or stone or some combination of the two. Imani wasn’t surprised, as resources here were rumored to be dwindling, and she didn’t think there were any quarries this far south.

The castle was old—far older than Stralas—and it showed. It had likely been built bit by bit, perhaps mauled down during the wars before the kingdom’s split and rebuilt differently after. Some would argue all fortresses should be built in such a way. It made them less susceptible to attack when there was no clear path in or out.

Another step forward, and she paused. A tickling sensation spread from her chest to her limbs. She checked that her shadows were hidden. They were, but Imani’s signature pushed her in a direction that didn’t feel natural.

What was this?